Food Harvest — youngsters needed
They are taking advantage of the pick-up of recent years in the food industry, as the value of Ireland’s food and drink exports jumps 12% per year, to about €9bn, despite the recession.
Most of the raw material for this impressive performance comes from farmers of whom only one in 20 is aged under 35, and of whom 28% are aged over 65.
And they are getting older — in 2007, 7% were under 35, and only 25% over 65. According to Department of Agriculture data, 53% are aged over 55.
It must be encouraging for the Government, which moved last year to raise the age at which people aged under 50 could draw State pensions, from 65 to 68. But it is not realistic to expect our ageing farmers to try to increase farm output by a third, which is the role set for them in the Food Harvest 2020 plan to boost agri-food exports by 42%.
They are expected to work harder at an age when people in other sectors are looking forward to retirement cruises and putting their feet up.
In what is Ireland’s most dangerous occupation, statistics show that older farmers are most at risk of death by accident.
They are being asked to risk their lives for the economy — unless the age profile can be improved.
In fairness to Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, he made it clear that getting management of farms transferred to younger farmers was one of his priorities.
He has welcomed the 27% increase in young people applying for agriculture and food courses, and surely the Department of Finance will not stand in his way, as he bids to introduce budget measures to better encourage the transfer of land to a new generation of farmers who have come through college and have many new ideas.
Success in reaching that objective, in conjunction with CAP reform proposals to help young farmers, could greatly revitalise farming.
An obvious way forward is to encourage older farmers to form partnerships with young farmers, to improve competitiveness and the adoption of new technologies.
According to Macra na Feirme, that requires special stock relief.
But if the Department of Finance instead reduces tax reliefs, for example on lifetime farm transfers of farms to young farmers, more farms will not be transferred until death, having a negative effect on the structure and revenue-generating capacity of Irish agriculture.
The Department of Finance allowed relief from stamp duty for farm consolidation to expire on June 30. The relief applied where a farmer sells qualifying land and purchases qualifying land in order to consolidate his or her holding. Farmers have to consolidate because the average Irish farm has 3.5 different parcels of land — just one more obstacle in the hugely challenging task for young people to become long-term viable farmers. According to Macra na Feirme, restoring this relief would also improve road safety by reducing the huge amount of travel for farmers between their parcels of land.
It is hard for young people to get into a business as capital intensive as farming, requiring continuous reinvestment to improve efficiency. They need grant support; instead, the only grant scheme available, TAMS, has been suspended. It must be restored, at the very least, for younger qualified farmers.
Keeping 100% stamp duty relief for ambitious young farmers is also a useful idea, with benefits for the economy.
Unfortunately, waiting for economic recovery before spending money to encourage young farmers is not an option. More so in farming than any other sector, young people with farming expertise can walk into jobs overseas. Recruiters for farm and food workers overseas are looking to Ireland for young talent. Ireland may soon be doing the same, unless we make it worthwhile for young farmers to stay.
